In a number of applications, it has become desirable to be able to identify features within an image. For example, an image may be captured that includes a distinctive building, a landmark or the like and it may be desirable to identify the building, landmark or the like in an automated fashion. In this regard, the identification of features within an image is utilized in computer vision and image retrieval applications and is being increasingly utilized for real-time object recognition, three-dimensional reconstruction, panorama stitching, robotic mapping and video tracking.
For example, an image may be captured by a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone, a digital camera or the like. The mobile device may then transmit the image or feature descriptors representative of various features of the image to a network entity, such as an application server. A network entity may then compare the image or the feature descriptors representative of the image to a number of predefined images or the feature descriptors of a number of predefined images. By identifying the closest match, the network entity may identify a feature within the image, such as a distinctive building, landmark or the like.